Judge Delays Collecting Fine In Journalist's Contempt Case

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, January 22, 2000

2000-01-22 04:00:00 PDT San Francisco -- An appellate judge postponed the collection of a $1,000-a-day fine imposed on a journalist who has refused to answer certain questions in a murder case.

Yesterday's decision was designed to give Chronicle reporter Dan Fost temporary protection while his appeal is being decided.

Fost was held in contempt of court Tuesday for not answering prosecutor's questions about unpublished portions of an interview he did with a key witness while working for the Marin Independent Journal in 1997. Marin County Superior Court Judge John Sutro ordered Fost to either testify or pay the fine every court day until the trial ends.

Fost and his former employer have challenged Sutro, saying that his order violates the First Amendment and California's "shield law."

According to Fost's attorney Chun Wright, the shield law protects information obtained by a reporter that is not published. She said their postion is bolstered by a November 1999 case in which the California Supreme Court ruled against prosecutors who had attempted to pierce the shield to support their case.

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Prosecutors from the district attorney's office did not return calls from The Chronicle yesterday. They have been given until next Tuesday to file arguments with the state Court of Appeal in San Francisco against Fost and the paper's challenge.

"We're hopeful that we're going to win," said Phyllis Pfeiffer, publisher of the Independent Journal.

Pfeiffer said the newspaper's policy is to not disclose unpublished information or photographs. She said no decision has been made whether to pay Fost's fine if their appeal is rejected.

Three years ago, when Fost worked for the Independent Journal, he wrote about the Ronnie Small murder case. Small, a former Tamalpais High School football star, was shot to death at a party.

One of the witnesses Fost interviewed apparently told a different version of the story in court Tuesday than she told Fost shortly after the incident. Deputy District Attorney Kevin Jones, who is prosecuting the case against one of the accused killers, Darrell Hunter, has demanded the right to question the reporter about all aspects of the interview.

Fost's case comes at the same time another journalist, Sacramento Valley Mirror Editor and Publisher Tim Crews, has been ordered to jail for refusing to reveal the names of two of his news sources.

The imposition of the punishment was delayed yesterday by Tehama County Superior Court Judge Noel Watkins, who a week ago had ordered Crews jailed. Crews, whose twice-weekly newspaper is printed near Red Bluff, refused to name two law enforcement sources who gave him incriminating statements against California Highway Patrol Officer Dewey Anderson, who has been charged with stealing a gun.

Watkins told Crews to return to court February 7 for a hearing on the editor's contention that the California shield law allows him to conceal the identity of sources.